Settling In, Part I

Just real quick, I want to apologize the upcoming lack of order of things. I've just kind of been writing things down as they pop in my head throughout the day resulting in sort of a haphazard collection of thoughts... so while "settling in" was supposed to be one long post, it will now be at least two, but the first part is necessary in order to move on to another post I've written, and so I can get around to taking/loading pictures for the other stuff... really it all boils down to whatever attention span I do have is spent trying to actually do work, rather than thinking through my blogging.

The Job

In a great change of events for me my job involves me sitting in a library for 11 hours a day doing research and writing a paper, something I wouldn’t have any experience in whatsoever. ;-) But before I get into the details I guess I should rewind a bit for those people that don’t know what I’m doing over here to begin with. I’m currently researching at the Max Planck Institute (hereinafter MPI) for Comparative and International Private Law (http://www.mpipriv.de/ww/en/pub/home.cfm) as a part of the Nordenberg Fellowship. The fellowship basically promotes me learning a lot about European law through the internship, classes, and lectures, etc.

The MPI is an incredibly nice library for the most part (trying to actually use the stacks [stacks= term used in reference to the normal shelves of books you find in a library] in the basement is a little scary and I’m sure at some point I will be squished between the rows). In the courtyard there is a pond with a waterfall. There’s also a silent enclosed waterfall in the lobby area. We all have assigned desks and mailboxes, and we have little key cards for getting into parts of the library other people can’t get to. No bags are allowed in, there is no food and no coffee in the main library section ( though there is a coffee area, I can’t imagine doctoral students surviving w/ out it). There’s lockers to store bags, and a self check out system that you use whenever you take a book off a shelf. You can’t take anything home, so it just stays on your desk. As with all libraries the temperature is about 20 below freezing.

The library opens at 8am and closes at 7pm. I don’t really have a set time to be here, but I think most people don’t come in till after 9 (I got here at 9 this morning and was maybe one of 3 people here)… but then they all seem to stay till 7 (which seems to fit my library habits). I don’t really have a boss or any set projects to work on, its more that I’m here to do my own research and writing… being an academic and what not.

Most people here are doctoral students working on their thesis. From the few I’ve talked to, this is the high standard for legal libraries in Europe and they tend to think its below what I’m used to… I find this amusing… considering Barco (Pitt’s law library). Unfortunately everyone speaks German, and not so many speak decent English. This is awkward b/c apparently I don’t remember very much of any of the very little German I used to speak, something I didn’t realize until I tried to actually talk to someone. And what is worse is that I don’t seem to understand what they say. Now I joked about this before I left, and had been warned about it a little before, but I don’t think I realized that it would actually be an issue. Its an accent problem… I learned German from someone who spoke Austrian German and then studied in Austria… Hamburg is about as far north as you can get… its like throwing someone who learned to speak English in Alabama into New York City. Oh well, I can still read a bit which is nice… until I’m trying to look up material and understand the Title of a book, know its exactly what I need, but can’t get through more than a sentence or so when I actually look at it.

But I digress… I met a few people on Monday night; we watched the Italy v. Netherlands football (soccer) match. I’ve decided few things are more awkward than being a jet lagged new person, on your very first day, in a group of about 15-20 people who don’t really speak English and all know each other really well. I intend to bring beer next time as my “take me as your friend; all we need to understand each other is beer and soccer” move… (Europe is in the middle of the Europe Cup 2008, Germany is doing pretty well so far… beat Poland 2-0 on Sunday, I know this as there was loud cheering in my fairly quiet neighborhood followed by fireworks before the game was even done—and I only knew it was on as I could see it through my neighbors window on his big screen tv).

And that’s all for the initial settling into my job.